Posts Tagged bathroom politics

Apple and Microsoft are both currently throwing big conferences, one for tech industry developers and one to sell video games. The conferences of these two giant companies are giving us an eye into some common-place sexism.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is currently taking place in San Francisco. Yesterday Dan Ackerman tweeted this photo from the conference, which says a lot about the gender imbalance in the tech industry:

Meanwhile, Microsoft is hosting E3, their annual gaming expo, in Los Angeles. It’s easier for consumers to fight sexism in games than for us to push for the gender dynamics of the tech industry to change, because businesses want to satisfy their customers. Microsoft should want to cater to non-misogynyst gamers, should ...

Apple and Microsoft are both currently throwing big conferences, one for tech industry developers and one to sell video games. The conferences of these two giant companies are giving us an eye into some common-place sexism.

This weekend I was in one of those progressive spaces that tries really hard to prioritize identity-based issues and make their spaces safe for different kinds of folk. And usually it’s pretty easy to do. Keep food accessible to people with various dietary needs. Bring folks from different backgrounds to the table. Use inclusive language. Create a safe space for open conversation.

That last order proved to be critical, because the issue of gender-neutral restrooms was not so straight forward. It all started when a male-bodied individual asked if they should be using the stall instead of the urinal in the male-turned-gender-neutral multi-stall restroom. The response was to the effect of: we should be prioritizing safety over convenience, so male-bodied individuals ...

This weekend I was in one of those progressive spaces that tries really hard to prioritize identity-based issues and make their spaces safe for different kinds of folk. And usually it’s pretty easy to do. Keep food ...